And other dangerous behaviors
I saw Running with Scissors this week. Joseph Cross leads an all-star cast (Annette Bening, Gwyneth Paltrow, Evan Rachel Wood, Brian Cox, Joseph Fiennes, Alec Baldwin, and Jill Clayburgh) as young Augusten Burroughs.
Augusten is living a fairly normal existence with his alcoholic father (Baldwin) and his bopolar mother (Bening). Other than the fact that his mother is a frustrated, unpublished poet with dreams of fame, his life is pretty pat. Then, his mother begins seeing Dr. Finch (Cox), a psychiatrist who is at best, unorthodox, and at worst, preying on his patients. Soon after, Augusten's parents divorce, and his mother sends him to live with Finch and his odd extended family in a boarded-up old mansion. (Finch eventually formally adopts Augusten. Eeek.)
The film, told in the memoir style, is Augusten's account of how he survived his tumultuous growing-up years in such an eccentric environment.
Augusten notes at the beginning of the movie that no one will ever believe him. And it's true. It's hard to believe a mother as crazy as Diedre Burroughs. A shrink as crazy as Dr. Finch. A house as weird as the one Augusten grew up in. But the cast does their best to make it work. Bening is, as always, a triumph. Paltrow is eerily committed. I almost didn't even recognize Joseph Fiennes under all that hair. (That guy is a chameleon.) Cross (as Augusten) and Wood (as Natalie) are the glue that begins to hold everything together.
The storyline was so odd that it was entertaining. And, in the end, strangely redemptive. I'd give this 3.5/4 out of 5 stars. Worth seeing.
Augusten is living a fairly normal existence with his alcoholic father (Baldwin) and his bopolar mother (Bening). Other than the fact that his mother is a frustrated, unpublished poet with dreams of fame, his life is pretty pat. Then, his mother begins seeing Dr. Finch (Cox), a psychiatrist who is at best, unorthodox, and at worst, preying on his patients. Soon after, Augusten's parents divorce, and his mother sends him to live with Finch and his odd extended family in a boarded-up old mansion. (Finch eventually formally adopts Augusten. Eeek.)
The film, told in the memoir style, is Augusten's account of how he survived his tumultuous growing-up years in such an eccentric environment.
Augusten notes at the beginning of the movie that no one will ever believe him. And it's true. It's hard to believe a mother as crazy as Diedre Burroughs. A shrink as crazy as Dr. Finch. A house as weird as the one Augusten grew up in. But the cast does their best to make it work. Bening is, as always, a triumph. Paltrow is eerily committed. I almost didn't even recognize Joseph Fiennes under all that hair. (That guy is a chameleon.) Cross (as Augusten) and Wood (as Natalie) are the glue that begins to hold everything together.
The storyline was so odd that it was entertaining. And, in the end, strangely redemptive. I'd give this 3.5/4 out of 5 stars. Worth seeing.
Comments